Scilla Gabel

She was born Scilla Gabellini one of five siblings in Rimini on the Adriatic coast Scilla initially studied law at Oxford University graduating with a doctorate Her interest in pursuing a legal career waned quickly however since her next move was a return to Italy for acting classes at Romes Accademia Nazionale dArte Drammatica At the age of seventeen the voluptuous blueeyed Scilla became a body double for Sophia Loren to whom she bore more than a passing resemblance notably in the classic Boy on a Dolphin 1957 Two years later she underwent cosmetic surgery to look less like Sophia in order to forge her own screen image In 1963 Scilla featured on the cover of several magazines including Playboy the Milanese publication Le Ore and Parade at the time the most widely read weekly in the US Though she went on to command leads in a number of films during the 60s Scilla tended to be typecast in roles which emphasized her physical attributes rather than her acting ability She appeared most often in genre films anything from innocuous sex comedies Genitori in bluejeans 1960 Bel Ami 2000 oder Wie verführt man einen Playboy 1966 to swashbuckling costume dramas La Venere dei pirati 1960 and from spaghetti westerns Johnny Golden Poker 1966 to peplum spectacles Death on the Arena 1962 The Revenge of Spartacus 1964 After 1971 she was afforded more challenging and critically acclaimed roles as a star in Italian TV miniseries Eleven years after leaving the screen Scilla attracted media attention as a result of the murder of her 87year old landlord father Giuseppe by a crazed tenant at his villa on the via Campi di Torre Flavia in Ladispoli